I wish to draw the Minister's attention to a complaint in Dublin with reference to housing. Owners of private residential property, a good deal of which is tenement property, are making efforts to get clear possession and are putting out their tenants without offering alternative accommodation. They are doing this for the purpose of converting the ground floors of the property into business premises.
On the North Strand Road there is a terrace of houses on this side of Newcomen Bridge. Some years ago these houses would not cost more than £200 each. The average number of people in each house is twenty or thirty. On account of the development of the new area in Marino and Killester, brought about by the housing schemes of the Commissioners, a new avenue has been opened up. A huge number of people pass up and down the North Strand now. The landlords are availing of the development that has taken place and are converting private property into shops. People are so anxious to get shops in that area that they offer high rents to the owners of the property. I know that one landlord has been offered £800 each for these two-storeyed tenement houses. Most of the tenants in these tenements are decent working-class people. They are now being put out to make room for shops. What is the Minister going to do about the matter in view of the fact that his Department are not able to build houses quickly enough to deal with the present scarcity? The cases I have referred to are only adding to the trouble of the Minister and those responsible for dealing with the housing problem. I ask the Minister to take into consideration cases of that kind and to do something to stop the wholesale evictions that are taking place in consequence of the conversion of residential property into business premises.
